3 Tips for Gang Scanning Photos in Photoshop

If you have old photographs lying around at home, then learning how
to scan photos is one of the easiest ways to get them onto your
computer. By scanning the photos, you will be able to save them as
computer files, which can then be printed and edited until you're
completely happy with them.

It is one of the easiest ways of digitizing existing photos. This
means that you can scan the photos yourself rather than taking them to a
photo shop. Scanning photos is very easy, however, it's very time
consuming. This might not be an issue if you're just scanning one or two
photos. However, if you have stacks of them, then scanning them can
take hours. Gang scanning photos is where the process can be automated.
This means that you will be able to leave your scanner scanning
photographs until it's finished.

1. Using a Flat Bed Scanner

If you have a regular flat bed, scanner then you might think it's
only possible to scan one photo at a time. However, if you use Photoshop
CS, then this isn't actually the case. Simply put all of your
photographs on the flat bed scanner and scan them as normal. Then, load
your image in Photoshop and select File, Automate, Crop and Straighten
Photos.

Once you have clicked this option, the software will automatically
identify the individual photos and straighten & crop each one. This
works very well and is an ideal way of automating and gang scanning
photos.

2. Separating Photos

For gang scanning to work well on a flat bed scanner, you must make
sure that there is some form of contrast between the different photos.
To achieve this, you should leave a gap between each photograph unless
it has a different colored border. This will make it much easier for
Photoshop to identify the individual photos and deal with them properly.

If the photographs are too close together, then Photoshop will find
it very difficult to differentiate the photos. This may mean that you
can cram more photos onto the scanner, however, the results won't be as
good. Ensure that enough of a gap is left. It doesn't really matter if
the images are straight because the software should handle that for you.

3. Using an Automatic Document Feeder

If you have loads of photographs to scan into your computer, then you
will find it even easier if you choose a scanner which has an ADF or
Automatic Document Feeder. These are not fitted on every scanner, but it
is possible to choose them specifically. By choosing an ADF tray
option, you can leave a stack of photos on the tray and then it will
automatically scan through them all.

This is one of the best and easiest ways of automating the process of
scanning large volumes of photographs into Photoshop. By using an ADF
tray, you don't even have to crop and straighten the photos. Gang
scanning your photos will greatly simplify the process of scanning in
multiple photos to Photoshop. This will also make editing them much
simpler.